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Refugees Flee For Their Lives.

April 06, 1999|By Carol Monaghan.

Pictures on TV and in newspapers last week showed long lines of ethnic Albanians fleeing Kosovo, a southern province of Serbia. The refugees streamed into neighboring Albania, Macedonia and Montenegro at a rate of as many as 4,000 an hour, according to international monitors.

With the refugees came their horrific stories. They told of villages being burned and family members, friends and neighbors being executed by Serb forces.

Even as NATO bombs fell on his country, Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic appeared to be trying to force ethnic Albanians - who before the war made up 90 percent of Kosovo's population - out of the province. The United Nations estimates that about 150,000 refugees have fled Kosovo since NATO launched airstrikes against Yugoslavia on March 24. More than 550,000 people, a quarter of Kosovo's population, have been displaced in the last year. (Kosovo is about the size of Connecticut.)

The NATO bombings were supposed to persuade Milosevic to abandon his campaign against the Kosovar Albanians and accept a peace accord. But some said the airstrikes were having the opposite effect - and were accelerating Serb violence against the ethnic Albanians.

Still, NATO officials weren't wavering in their plans to keep up the bombing. They said the airstrikes will destroy Milsoevic's army piece by piece - which they hope will force the Yugoslav leader to accept a peace accord.

But why is the fighting going on anyway? And why is the U.S. involved? We'll take a look:

Who's at war in Kosovo?

Even though 90 percent of Kosovo's population were ethnic Albanians, Kosovo is ruled by Serbs. The Serbs, headed by Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, are fighting the Kosovo Liberation Army, or KLA, a group of guerrillas who want Kosovo to break free of Serbian control.

What's at stake for the ethnic Albanian rebels?

They want an immediate end to the fighting and atrocities by the Serbs. They also want full independence - in other words, they want Kosovo to be its own country.

What's at stake for the Serbs?

Milosevic wants to keep Kosovo part of Yugoslavia, under Serb control, and stop any occupation of the province by NATO forces. What do the United States and NATO want?(less than)$t-2(greater than)

NATO - an alliance of 19 Western governments, including the United States - wants to halt the fighting. It also wants Milosevic to sign a peace agreement that gives Kosovo autonomy - meaning it can govern itself - but leaves it part of Serbia. (This could change, though. Last week, President Clinton warned Milosevic that he risked losing Kosovo if he kept up his attacks.) NATO also wants to enforce a peace pact with ground troops, which Milosevic opposes.

Why does NATO care about Kosovo's civil war in the first place?

It's afraid the civil war could boil into a much bigger conflict. The Serbs' campaign to eliminate the KLA has driven hundreds of thousands from their homes (both ethnic Albanians and other Kosovars, Serbs included, have fled because they fear attacks). This has created a humanitarian catastrophe and potential refugee problem in Europe. The conflict could draw in neigh-boring Albania and Macedonia, as well as more distant powers such as Russia, which has ethnic and religious ties to the Serbs.

Why won't Milosevic give the Albanians their independence? Why is Kosovo so important to the Serbs anyway?

To the Serbs, Kosovo is very significant. They consider it rightfully theirs because it was the birthplace of their national culture before they lost it to the Ottoman Turks in 1389. (They regained control of the province shortly before World War I.) Serbs say the KLA are terrorists who are trying to rob them of ancestral lands.

What might NATO do next?

NATO officials had hoped airstrikes would batter Milosevic into accepting its peace pact for Kosovo. At first, the airstrikes targeted specific military targets, but they have expanded as Milosevic continues victimizing ethnic Albanians.

When the airstrikes began on March 24, NATO targeted the Yugoslav air-defense network. Then on March 28, it broadened its attacks to target Serb military forces in Kosovo. On Thursday, NATO expanded its air campaign against Yugoslavia to target top government buildings in Belgrade, the Yugoslav capital. So far, NATO has ruled out a ground invasion.

HELP ON THE WAY:

The U.S. and European countries have been rushing food, tents, blankets, sanitation kits and other supplies to the poor countries around Kosovo, where hundreds of thousands of refugees have fled. Officials of the United Nations World Food Program said the surrounding countries have enough food to feed the refugees for the next four months. But they are worried about the people left in Kosovo, where food supplies have been looted.

TIME MARCHES ON

What led to This?

1380 The Ottoman Turks defeat the Serbian-led armies in Kosovo, which remains under Turkish control for centuries.

1912 Serbia wins back control of Kosovo in the Balkan Wars of 1912-13.